Capitals 6 - Senators 3 Prognosis

The facts:

• No one in the building or watching was surprised when the Sens jumped out to a 2 goal lead early. Everyone was surprised when they gave up 5 straight goals after that.
• I said earlier that I expected Ray Emery to play in this game over Martin Gerber. I was right...sort of. Gerber got the start and relinquished it by giving up 3 goals on 8 shots. Goalie controversy in Ottawa perhaps?
• 6 goals scored by the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin got two assists (ok, they were secondary assists, but they count for everyone).
• The Heatley-Alfredsson-Spezza line didn't score a single goal. Heatley in particular has been held in check by Washington this year. Keeping the stars off the board is what DC needed to do.
• Mike Green had 2 goals. He's now tied for the NHL's lead in goals scored by a defenseman. This man also needs a new contract.
• Olaf Kolzig looked shaky in the beginning. Down the stretch, however he was solid and held the Caps through to the win. He was not superb, but solid. He needs to have a few more of these games if the Caps want to make a playoff push.
• Speaking of *whispers* playoffs, the Caps are a mere 5 points out of the 8th spot in the East.
• Alexander Semin went down with a tailbone injury (I'll pass on the chance to make an ass joke) and Tom Poti is ailing from the ever mysterious "upper-body injury." Both are day-to-day and both of their absences will be felt by the team.
• Brooks Laich had a beauty of a goal that ended up being the game-winner. Don't look now but he's tied for 4th on the team in scoring (7 goals) and is 7th on the team in terms of points, with 12.
• Michael Nylander got a goal to extend his goal scoring streak to 2 games. He could have had consecutive multi-goal games if he had simply pulled the trigger on the 3-on-1 instead of hooking off to make another pass. I love Michael, but he's gotta fire some more shots.
  
• Viktor Kozlov got his first goal at VC and his first goal in a while. He's got 4 now this year.
• Two players got into the double-digit end with their goals last night. Nylander's goal and Mike Green's two goals got them both to 10 goals on the year. They of course still trail the great #8 by 20 goals, as Ovie still sits at 30 on the year.
• On another note concerning Ovechkin, his two assists put him at 50 points on the year, just 1 game shy of the mid-way mark of the season.
• The Capitals FINALLY scored a 5-on-3 goal.
  
• Players last night who had multi-point games: Nylander (1G, 1A), Ovechkin (2A), Green (2G, 1A), Boyd Gordon (1G, 1A) and Laich (1G, 1A)

Bottom Line: I don't know what sort of voodoo the Caps did to knock the Sens off again. Ottawa knew they had to come out blazing against DC and they did. I fully expected a knockout punch from the Senators after that first 5 minutes. But then Gerber turned back into a sieve and the Caps pulled ahead. After that, the Sens looked like the Capitals of old, basically folding down the stretch. But give credit to Washington, for persevering after falling behind early. Washington started off 2008 on a great not. Hopefully, they can continue the trend.

Prognosis: Positive
Game MVP: Mike Green (2G, 1A)